In today’s global business world, it’s essential for small companies to be technologically savvy and up-to-date on the newest trends in order to remain relevant and stay competitive. Data analysis has become an increasingly powerful tool that helps CEOs and top executives make key decisions and offer more educated predictions about their company’s future. Data can allow these leaders to adjust marketing strategies, control inventories, establish target markets and boost sales.

Small businesses have a wealth of information in their hands including Google Analytics, Facebook Insights and sales receipts. The term “big data” is popular among businesses, used to describe the availability and exponential growth of data, both unstructured and structured.

According to the results of a new Harris Interactive study, big data was shown to have a wide range of definitions including:

• The requirements to archive and store data for the purposes of regulatory compliance
• The emergence of new and improved data sources, including mobile devices, social media and machine-generated devices
• Challenges associated with big data
• The significant growth and development of transaction data

The same survey suggests the top competitive advantages gained by using big data include:

• Increasing sales (54 percent)
• Retaining and attracting customers (46 percent)
• Reducing IT costs (50 percent)
• Improving efficiency of internal business operations (59 percent)
• Becoming more flexible and agile (48 percent)

Most importantly, 76 percent of small business owners say Big Data is an enormous opportunity for their executives and employees. Over 70 percent believe that a return on investment occurs within 12 months. Data brokers like DataLogix, Kaggle and Acxiom can offer businesses valuable data analysis that shares informative insight into a company’s current activities.

Shares of nation’s leading real estate site jump 12% since announcement of merger.

Zillow and Trulia are unquestionably the two most popular research sites for people looking to buy, sell, or lease a new home. Combined, the two companies attract over 130 million unique visitors each month.

Both sites garner heavy attention from real estate agents looking for the most exposure of their listings. Some of the nation’s largest brokers spend upwards of $20,000 per month on the sites. And though the two companies take in hundreds of millions of dollars annually, their revenues are only a fraction of the $12 billion that real estate professionals spend on marketing each year.

Mobile homes

Spencer Rascoff, Zillow’s CEO, says that real estate marketing has gone mobile. It’s no secret that on-the-go information has been one of the best tools for realtors. Both sites offer phone-friendly, detailed information on their listings. Trulia and its now-parent company have completely transformed the real estate market over the last decade. Today, buyers can access information that was once only available to a real estate broker.

Brokers irrelevant to future of real estate?

The age of information has made it easier than ever to buy a home without the assistance of a licensed real estate agent. Many brokers fear that mergers such as this will completely eliminate their jobs. Other sites, such as homes.com and realtor.com, employ many of the same marketing methods as Zillow and charge a premium price for listings. Agents who list their properties with these companies may be the only ones that survived the mobile marketing revolution.

Trulia and Zillow offer specialist tools that the home seeker can use to enhance their buying experience. From interactive maps to instant home estimates, real estate websites such as these will continue to change how people buy and sell real property.

In 2013, overall music sales were flat compared with the previous year. But despite treading water, many music industry professionals were expressing optimism about streaming services and other forms of revenue.

In a report issued by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the future of the music industry was laid bare. The revenue from streaming music services grew markedly in 2013, with a 39 percent increase from 2012. Streaming music services like Pandora, Rhapsody, SiriusXM and Spotify have combined for more than $1.4 billion in total revenue.

The number of online consumers who have subscribed to these streaming services totaled 6.1 million in 2013, a considerable increase from 3.4 million the previous year. These impressive numbers do not include Beats, a new subscription-based streaming services that opened in late 2013.

In 2013, performance royalties paid to record labels and artists by SoundExchange increased nearly 30 percent to a total of $590 million. SoundExchange represents about half of U.S. streaming music revenue. Over 2,400 services in digital radio currently use SoundExchange for their daily operations.

As digital radio royalties become an even more prominent entity in the music ecosystem, labels and recording artists are concerned about their bottom lines. While music streaming continues to experience steady growth, overall revenue slipped from $7.01 billion in 2012 to $6.99 billion in 2013. Overall revenue has hovered around the $7 billion mark each year since 2009. The industry experienced revenue of $8.8 billion in 2008.

If these streaming services can convert an appropriate amount of free users into paid subscribers, record companies, record labels and artists may finally reap the benefits of the new Internet age. A premium subscriber to Google, Rdio or Spotify’s streaming service is paying approximately $120 each year on their music. That amounts to between 10 and 12 full-length albums.

Sang Lucci Partners Capital has veered off the beaten path by temporarily booting its best traders off Wall Street. A group of the firm’s most talented traders was sent to Los Angeles in May to have their brain waves tracked by scientists as they participated in simulated day of buying and selling.

Twenty six traders took part in the company’s most recent experiment, which was sponsored in-part by TruBrain, a company that formulates nutritional supplements to improve brain function. While the results of the testing are not yet conclusive, TruBrain creators say that supplement’s active ingredients are proven to increase brain performance without the need for harsh stimulants.

The hope is that following the brain patterns of traders under normal working conditions will allow researchers to track when they are at their peak performance and if a dietary change will increase positive results. Test administrators are optimistic; others believe that the brain may benefit even better from having a small “break” before working. Lenox Hospital’s Dr. Robert Graham, who has no affiliation with San Lucci or TruBrain, says the test can show changes in the brain but not necessarily if it’s working smarter or not. He explains that slowing things down is as effective as speeding things up and believes calming down the senses before stress heightens the brains function without the risks associated with caffeine or other chemicals.

Although Sang Lucci is a small hedge fund by comparison, founder Anand Sanghvi has made headlines more than once for his unconventional wisdom and willingness to buck tradition. Sangvhi and Sang Lucci trainer Haim Bodek, a cognitive sciences major, operate the firm as though through a glass office. Sang Lucci Tweets their Profit and Loss daily and reports all activities to a University of Notre Dame professor, who is researching issues within the stock market structure.